Shawn Thornton undergoing evaluation, update expected Friday

Posted By
Mike Petraglia
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February 1, 2013 @ 12:35 am
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General |
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Bruins coach Claude Julien[1] said an update on Shawn Thornton[2] is expected on Friday after the Bruins enforcer received a full evaluation Thursday night.

Thornton was handed a rare beating in a bout with Buffalo’s John Scott three minutes into a 7-4 loss to the Sabres Thursday night at TD Garden.

After serving his five-minute fighting major in the penalty box, Thornton skated across the ice and immediately to the Bruins dressing room. He did not return.

“We’ll know more [Friday],” Julien said immediately after the game. “He’s being evaluated, until we get a definite answer, nothing more.”

Julien said Thornton’s loss in the fight had little to do with his team’s defenseless loss to the Sabres, a game in which they allowed seven goals in the final two periods.

“I mean you know that’s just part of the game, and you know Scott did his job that his job for them and Shawn did his job for us,” Julien said. “And those things happen you win some you lose some. But at the same time I don’t think it deflated our team. We were in the lead 3-1 there half way through the second so it didn’t do anything in that way. I think again you know, we keep looking for other reasons than the one I gave you guys ‘ we were just terrible defensively. And you know the other part is – give them credit they played a really good game tonight. And I’m not saying that just to say, they really did play a good solid game tonight and they were the better team at the end of the night.”

“I think it’s what happens, it’s a square-off between the two tough guys in the building,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “Somebody said they were talking in warm-ups, I didn’t really anticipate what was going to happen. I think John has provided us some team toughness, and it’s spilled off onto other guys. He did a nice job for us and I thought the rest of the game was just a hard fought game.”

As for the Bruins’ players, they reacted in different ways to the Thornton loss.

“He’s been a great team guy here for the last six years, and he takes a lot of pride in what he does, sticking up for himself and his teammates,” Milan Lucic[3] said. “He’s a great team guy, and he’s an important person to this hockey club. It was unfortunate that he missed the rest of the game after that, but knowing him, he’s a tough guy and he’ll try to get back as soon as he can.”

“I wasn’t too sure if Thorty was gonna fight him, but that’s the type of guy he is, make sure no one else had to do the job and you know, did it,” added Tyler Seguin[4]. “I came in and saw him, he looked like he was doing fine.

“Obviously Thorty can fight and he’s a tough guy, but you’ve still got to look at that Scott guy, he’s not a small guy and Thorty has a ton of passion, and will do anything it takes for this team. Whether it’s fighting a giant just to get the boys going, win or lose, that’s what he’s gonna do.”